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Anti-Incumbent Sentiment Fuels Primary Fights in Deep South

By Jonathan Weisman March 12, 2012 12:09 pmMarch 12, 2012 12:09 pm

Most of the attention in the Deep South may be on the Republican presidential race, but some surprises could be in store for the unsettled House delegations from Alabama and Mississippi, whose members are facing primary challenges on Tuesday.

In Alabama, Representative Spencer Bachus, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is squaring off against State Senator Scott Beason, an architect of Alabama’s tough illegal immigration bill, who is running as the “true conservative” in the race. But two other challengers are also in the race, and Mr. Beason has to hold Mr. Bachus, a much better-funded House veteran, to below 50 percent of the vote to force a runoff April 24.

Another Alabama Republican, Representative Jo Bonner, faces a challenge on his right flank from a businessman, Dean Young, who has hit Mr. Bonner for voting for the bank bailout in 2008 and for raising the debt ceiling. Like Mr. Beason, Mr. Young is getting an assist from the Campaign for Primary Accountability, an anti-incumbent political action committee that put more money into Alabama over the weekend.

A new ad from the group against Mr. Bachus concludes: “Rock the boat. Vote in the March 13 Republican primary.”

Representative Mo Brooks, another Alabama Republican, is facing a rematch with Parker Griffith, the Democrat-turned-Republican who lost to Mr. Brooks in the G.O.P. primary two years ago.

Across the border in Mississippi, the tangle of primaries looks no neater. A Tea Party freshman congressman, Alan Nunnelee, a Republican, is being slammed on television by Henry Ross, a former judge, prosecutor and mayor of Eupora, Miss., for a litany of offenses, including voting to fund Planned Parenthood clinics, raising the debt ceiling and backing “the war on free enterprise.”

But the anti-incumbent vote Tuesday could be divided by Robert Estes, a Tea Party candidate who is also challenging Mr. Nunnelee from the right.

Not to be outdone, Democrats are also joining the fray. Representative Bennie Thompson, the former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and the lone Democrat in the Mississippi delegation, was on the air Monday in Jackson, Miss., trying to fend off a challenge from Heather McTeer, a former mayor of Greenville, Miss., running as a young progressive voice for the underrepresented.

Jessica Taylor, a senior analyst at the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, said none of these challengers could be considered favorites, but last week, an Ohio podiatrist, Brad Wenstrup, took Washington by surprise by defeating Representative Jean Schmidt, a four-term Republican. And in low-turnout primaries, anything can happen.

“When Congress is so unpopular, it’s understandable you’re getting all these primary challengers,” Ms. Taylor said. Referring to Republicans elected two years ago with Tea Party backing and promises of sweeping change, she added, “In some naïve sense, people expected them to go up to Washington and change it overnight.”

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